1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor light emitting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A light emitting diode, a type of semiconductor light emitting device, is a semiconductor device capable of generating light of various colors according to electron hole recombination in p and n type semiconductor junction parts when current is applied thereto. Compared with a light emitting device based on a filament, the semiconductor light emitting device has various advantages such as a long life span, low power consumption, excellent initial driving characteristics, high vibration resistance, and the like, so demand for the semiconductor light emitting device continues to grow. In particular, recently, a group III-nitride semiconductor capable of emitting short-wavelength blue light has come to prominence.
In the nitride semiconductor light emitting device, electrodes are generally arranged in a horizontal direction, narrowing a current flow. The narrow current flow increases an operation voltage Vf of the light emitting device, degrading current efficiency, and in addition, the light emitting device may become vulnerable to an electrostatic discharge. Thus, in an effort to uniformly spread current on the overall light emission surface, the electrodes are divided into pads and fingers and disposed thusly.
However, in such a structure, an active layer is etched to expose a first conductive semiconductor layer, and a first pad and finger are formed on the first conductive semiconductor layer and a second pad and finger are formed on a second conductive semiconductor layer. Thus, the area of the active layer is reduced and a uniform space between the electrodes cannot be secured to cause non-uniform current spreading.
Thus, the object of the present invention is to obtain uniform current spreading by maintaining a uniform interval between the electrodes of a semiconductor light emitting device, and improve the luminance of the semiconductor light emitting device by avoiding a loss of (i.e., reduction in) an active layer resulting from etching.